Punic peoples had little Levantine DNA?

PUNIC WATCH: Punic people had Greek genetics and almost no Levantine ancestors, new study finds. A new study has found that the Punic people had a similar genetic profile to populations from Sicily and the Aegean and just little admixture from the Levant (PAUL ANTONOPOULOS, Greek City Times).

A study by Harvard University’s David Reich Lab has found that the Punic people, traditionally believed to be a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Central and Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age, had only a minority contributor of ancestry from the Levant.

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According to the article, this study is not yet published. But its reported results fit in with other genetic studies, such as this one. The Phoenician colonies were around for centuries and it would not be surprising that the colonizers interbred with the native population, which would have diluted the original genetic profile over time.

Whoever the Punic peoples were, they wrote in, and presumably spoke, Phoenician and they worshipped Phoenician gods.

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